summer sobers
by hinoiri
Summary: [contest.fic] She still kept their memory with her. Because its all she's got. [SoraKairiRiku]


Sokairiku

Summer Sobers

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**I**t was the first day of summer.

The day where the sun was shining at its brightest. The laughter of children would be heard from far due to their excitement. The beach would be crowded with teenagers sunbathing, surfing or just plain hanging out with all of their friends, no matter age nor gender. Everyone was having a good time on that day.

Except for one.

The sounds of curtains rustling gently caused her eyelids to flutter open, catching a glimpse of faded sunlight trying to shine through the velvet cloth.

She shut her eyes once more, hoping so desperately that if she just closed her eyes, the day would pass by at lightning speed. No, she couldn't wish that. She had a duty to fulfill on that day. She had to settle it. The morning embraced her as she sat up and ran her soft fingertips against her comforter. The calmness of it all just made her want to lie back in bed and slumber on. It was just so soothing, she nudged her cheek against her pillow.

"Its summer… summer…" she sighed, her breath evaporating into the air. She swung her legs over her bed and got up, walking over to the curtains and pulled them apart, feeling the sunlight illuminate her with such tranquility. She shaded her eyes from the blinding shine and couldn't help but smile. Such a beautiful day. Perfect for an outing to the wondrous world and for the youth to enjoy the peace while they still could. She frowned once more.

"Summer's not the same without you guys…"

Kairi froze in place. She hoped if she stood still enough, she could have felt their presence near her. Anywhere near her, whether it be down in her kitchen preparing for their big summer tradition or at her front lawn, awaiting her presence to greet them with open arms. She sighed. How she wished for that to come true. Running her fingers through her tangled auburn locks, she stretched her arms and continued gazing out to the children and people who were already out and about on the first day to the holidays they had been anticipating for.

_Summer's not the same…_

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**T**he woods were amazing on that particular day. The tame animals came out and greeted her with their squeaks and chirps of welcome as the sun shone brightly above her. The green leaves of the wood trees made a rustling sound as she walked through the wondrous nature land. A smile caused by her lips tilting upward was carved on her face. This kind of scenery was perfect for her activity.

It just had two things missing…

Holding the strap of her bag pack tighter, she could feel the bulge of food poking through it along with her clothes and sleeping bag perched on her shoulders. Yes, you guessed it. She was going camping. It had always been a tradition of her with them. Every first day of summer, they'd throw their books for awhile, grab their camping kit, make a few sandwiches and set off to the woods for a two day stay there. It would've been just the three of them, doing things and laughing about all the stories they'd share together. They were the trio.

Now she was just _solo_.

Her boots squished the grass beneath her as the wind blew past her; causing her auburn locks to sway along with the rhythm of it. Kairi fastened her pace. Somehow, she could smell the scent of them. The scent of innocence and joy they used to have. The scent of happiness and strength they poured on her for they had promised to stick by each other's side no matter what. But they went down together, leaving her in solitude. She hated it.

Her mind still remembered how one of them would sing random songs out loud just to create some noise in the forest. He told her it was too quiet and they couldn't enjoy their summer tradition in tranquility. The other one would scoff and tell her that their friend had such a terrible voice, the animal would get afraid so they wouldn't have to worry about safety. She would always laugh. The younger one would pout and then, fits of laughter would erupt. Which only made the woods even less peaceful then it was. But they didn't care. As long as they were laughing together.

She could have _sworn_ she could still hear him.

Finally reaching her destination, a pang of pain engulfed her heart as she saw their usual camping spot. It still looked the same. After all these years, nothing had changed. The special patch of green moss was still sight able at a corner, the group of logs that had turned into an even darker color caused by the rain and the constant weather changes, the small little spot where special blue tulips grew and finally, the trio's certain place where they'd lie down and gaze at the stars all night. Now that was special.

She let out a deep sigh as she walked to the spot that was filled with many sweet and cherished memories. Her knees bent while her fingers groped a few strands of grass and felt its wildness under her fingertips. She held back a few tears as her eyes faced in front and her mind played a trick on her; replaying back the scene where they would be preparing their tents and such.

It was all still so vividly clear…

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"**K**airi! Where's my special sleeping bag?"

"You mean the one with Mickey Mouse on it? What a baby."

"Shut it, Riku! I didn't ask you!"

"You want a piece of me, little baby Sowwa?"

"That's it!"

Kairi couldn't help but shake her head as the two boys wrestled and groped at each other, each trying to pin the other down so they would be declared as the winner. They were so young even if they were growing up rapidly. Their innocence and youth could be seen illuminating through their smiles as their friendship grew more and more. Not broken up for anything in the world. Nothing could break it. Nothing.

She tied her hair into a ponytail and marched over to them, placing her hands over her hips. "Guys, if you don't stop wrestling each other, you're not getting any marshmallows later." With a smirk of triumph on her lips, the two young sons of Adam stopped as they gave a surprised look to her. "Bu-But Kai!" whined the younger one, his brown hair brushed and swayed with the woodlands wind. "You know I _love_ marshmallows! Its my favorite part of this tradition!"

"He's right Kairi," began Riku, standing up and straightening himself. He looked down to the boy sprawled on the grass. "We wouldn't want Sora crying like last time when he couldn't eat a marshmallow." Sora mustered up the most deadliest glare he could and screamed at him as he pounced up and grabbed Riku by the neck as they rolled about on the ground. The poor auburn girl realized they were coming towards her and tried to stop them but it was too late. With a _bang_ and a _thud_, she was rolling along with them.

They stopped midway and laughed out loud, their sides hurting from the giggles they made. Kairi was in between them and squinted an eye open as she heaved a long sigh. "Ya know, at this rate, there's no way we're gonna get the tent up in time." Sora chuckled. Riku scoffed.

"It doesn't matter though," continued Sora, turning his head to give her his usual grin she loved so much. "We have all the time in the world to do so."

Kairi smiled back and intertwined her hands with both him and Riku as she closed her eyes and absorbed their presence. She was lucky to have such two brave and caring souls with her. Because she knew, they're always gonna be by her side no matter what and nothing could stand in the way of their immortal bond.

How wrong she was.

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**T**he sounds of a water lapping against each other was heard. Kairi stood at the edge of the river as she put down her knapsack and bent down, running her hand through the river's cool water. It still felt so cold and fresh. She was happy of that. At least that didn't change. She rolled up her pants a little and stepped into the water. It felt colder than usual. She slowly walked against the slow current, feeling the soft pebbles and stones that were scattered on the river's floor. With each and every step she took, she could feel the emptiness the stream had. It wasn't as warm as it used to be. It wasn't as clear as it used to.

Sure, it still looked the same. Yet, she still felt something missing from it.

Her eyes wandered around as she saw no presence around her. A gust of wind blew past her and lifted her hair a little, allowing her face to glance up to the sky. She felt hollow in her heart once more. Her ears could still hear the faint sound of giggles and laughter of three teenagers, lost of the world and caught up in their own. Her eyelids closed as a fresh tear trailed down her pale cheek and fell down to the river below.

Ripples of the water were created as the sound of laughter got louder…

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**K**airi sat on a rock by the river as she watched her best friend attempting to capture some fish for food. Sora was focused, his face held such a determined look that she just had to laugh. His brows were scrutinized, his lips were twitched and his azure orbs were shifting from left to right with a sense of alert in them. When a glimpse of scales were captured by him, he sprung into action and dunked his head into the water, splashing water about. Kairi covered herself as the waters sprayed over her a little. Finally, a bed of brown hair sprouted up and Sora grinned as he waved a fish in his hand.

"Kairi, look! Look! I caught one!"

She giggled and cupped her hands over her mouth. "Great job Sora! You're a natural fisherman!"

His cheeks stained a little shade of red and he held the fish tightly so it wouldn't wriggle from his grip.

"Are you done being lame at this yet, Sora?" came a voice from behind her. She turned around and gaped at what her other best friend held. A _bucket_ full of wriggling fish. Sora's eyes widened and his mouth hung low as the fish he caught tried to escape his hold. Riku smirked as he walked over to Kairi and placed the bucket in front of her. "Here Kai, here's our dinner, lunch and maybe breakfast as well for the next two days. Make sure you cook it right. I could get some more, if you've finished."

Kairi looked with amazement at the creatures and smiled to Riku. "Whoa, you're really good, Riku! Who'd ever thought you'd be good at these kind of things."

Sora whimpered as he stumbled out of the waters and tripped over to Kairi with wet shorts and all. He hugged his captured fish tightly and looked to Riku with shock. "H-How did you catch so much?" The silver haired one smirked as he ran his hand through his hair. "Its called talent, Sora. You'll get used to it once you have it." Sora gritted his teeth and huffed at his elder friend, turning the other way. Kairi rolled her eyes and stood up, walking over to them. She stood in front of Sora and turned his face to her, giving a smile to him.

"Hey Sora, do you want to help me cook lunch? I'll make a special dish especially with your fish, alright?"

He blushed deeply but nodded and grinned while Riku rolled his aquamarine eyes and suddenly smirked. "Hey Sora, I see that Kairi's still dry. How about we wet her up a little?" Kairi turned to him with shock and saw that Sora was smirking now as well. She backed away slowly and as carefully as she could. "Umm… thanks but no thanks, guys…"

Riku let out a short laugh. "Get her!"

Kairi squealed and ran away from them as they rounded up on her. She ran into the river and splashed about, trying to evade them but eventually, she failed miserably as Sora captured her by the waist and twirled her around before Riku caught her legs and both grinned. They counted to three and then threw her into the deep cool water, her red hair shaking when she surfaced back up. The two boys laughed at her look and she pouted before cupping a handful of water and splashing it to them.

They then began a water fight and didn't realize how late it was getting but they didn't really care.

As long as they were laughing, they were happy enough.

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**S**he grimaced weakly as she bent down in the river's water and cupped a handful of water, splashing it to her side but this time, there was no one there. Just the wind. She choked on her tears and finally toppled down, letting her salty tears fall as her mind wouldn't allow their image to leave her. She wiped her tears away but to no avail for a new batch of them poured down. Her chest was feeling the pain now.

She'd never imagine she would be crying because of them.

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**A** bursting fire cackled in front of her, the orange and red flame reflected on her broken blue orbs. Kairi watched as the fireplace contributed as the only light for her. The woods was quite frightening at night but she didn't mind. She was used to this silence and solitude. Her hand graced themselves across her as she grabbed a packet of marshmallows and dragged it to her direction.

She slowly raised it to her hands and ripped the packet open. Digging into it, she took out one of the white fluffy snack and poked it onto a stick she found. Hesitatingly, she pushed her arm forth and started burning her treat for that night. As the sound of owls hooting could be heard and the noisy croaks by the frogs served as music to her, she then remembered a song they used to sing a lot.

Parting her dry lips apart, she barely could hear her own broken voice. "You put your marshmallow in, you take your marshmallow out, you put your marshmallow in and you shake it all about…"

Hearing her voice so dead made it seem of her so funny to sing such a silly song with a tone of sadness buried deep in her vocal cords. She closed her eyes and continued humming the tune of that song, allowing herself to flow to yet another one of her long memory that was still glued to her heart no matter what.

She was the only broken singing angel that night…

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"**H**ey guys, how about we sing a campfire song?" suggested Sora, chewing softly on his seventh marshmallow while Riku and Kairi chewed on their second one. Kairi nodded abruptly while Riku scoffed. As soon as the treat went down her throat, Kairi clapped her hands to get their attention. "Okay, what song should we sing?"

Sora thought hard… wondering what was suitable…

"How about Kum Ba Yah?" asked the brunette, looking to his friends. Kairi twitched her lips and shook her head. "Nah, too slow. Oh, how about Dreams?"

"No, too moody. Oh, how about the Campfire Pokey?"

Kairi squealed with excitement and nodded vigorously. Riku shook his head with discontent and continued eating his snacks. Sora sat cross legged nearer to them and cleared his throat. _"You put your marshmallow in, you put your marshmallow out, you put your marshmallow in and you shake it all about!"_

Kairi began to sing along with Sora as they clapped with the rhythm and they followed the actions to the song using their own marshmallows. Riku sat solemnly and gazed to them with a raised eyebrow. Kairi shook her head and grabbed Riku by the arm, bringing him closer which caused a little blush to stain his cheeks but he complied and soon enough, the three were singing with their different voices and their marshmallows burning in the hot fire.

_"You put your whole dinner in, You take your whole dinner out, You put your whole dinner in, and you shake it all about, You do the campfire pokey, and you turn yourself about"_ Sora stood up and pulled Kairi along with him as he spun her around and they began dancing and shaking their bodies to whatever they pleased. Sora then pulled Riku as well and the three of them were soon singing while dancing along. If any of their other friends saw them now, they'd laugh and tease them all about it but this time it was just them. Just the three who shared such a beautiful friendship they have been together with for over many years.

Through thick and thin, through hard times, through sweet times, they've always been by each other's side. Whether it be on Riku's first driving lesson, Kairi's first piano concert, Sora's first daring haircut, they've been through it all. Some may say they're inseparable but they have witnessed bitter memories as well as sweet ones. Like when Riku's dad died and he became so distant, when Kairi wouldn't believe them when they said her boyfriend was a jerk and when Sora was forced to move with his cousin for they wanted to run away from the world so much until he was willing to give up his friends.

This was _true_ friendship. A group of people going through the obstacles and the ups and downs of friendship. It all came down to togetherness in the end. They believed in real bond. They believed in friendship. They believed in each other and most of all, they needed each other. And neither planned to let the other go soon.

_"And that's what its all about, yum, yum!"_

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**T**he moon was brightly out, the stars were sparkling and the wind was howling. She closed her eyes as she laid sprawled on her sleeping bag that was out in the open instead of inside the tent for the outside scenery was even more enchanting then the boring indoors. A smile graced her lips as she pointed a finger up to the sky and showed to a shooting star.

"Make a wish guys…" she muttered, voice so soft even a mouse couldn't hear it. The stars were so beautiful and open that night, she blurred her vision with her tears once more and one tear escaped her eye. She let it trail down as she smiled weakly and looked to her left. Nothing. To her right… nothing…

She felt so empty.

Kairi then closed her eyes and caught her breath as she placed her hands to her side and imagined holding their hands; feeling the softness of it. She then visioned their presence and warmth passing through her every vein. When her world came crashing down on her, she sobbed as her hand only caught air and nothing to hold. She was broken and wounded without her two poles of strength beside her. She needed her boys to support her. She needed her saviors to catch her when she's falling. She needed them back. She needed her best friends back.

Something's are just plain impossible in this world…

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"**H**ey Sora, what does that star mean?"

The trio were sprawled on a blanket, looking upon the stars shining above them. Their hands intertwined with each other, a smile on their lips and another blanket serving as warmth for them. Sora grinned a toothless one as he pointed to that certain star and whispered to her ear. "It means togetherness. It shines because the other stars are with it, that's why its shining brightly. Because its always there to help its other friend to continue shining on."

She smiled and held his hand tighter. "Togetherness…"

She then turned back up to the sky and closed her eyelids slowly. "Do you think… we'll be together forever?"

Riku scoffed. "Its impossible, Kai. Sooner or later, we're gonna have to go our separate ways and enjoy life the way we want to. Its part of life."

Kairi heaved a deep sigh. Sora placed his free hand behind his head and grinned softly. "Still, we're still young and we have many years ahead of us to think about parting. For now, being together with you guys is more important the future."

"Yeah," said Kairi, opening back her irises. "And even if we are worlds apart, I want you guys to know how much you guys mean to me and you'll always be deep in my heart, no matter what happens."

Riku smiled and gripped his hold. "You can always count on us, Kairi. If you ever feel lonely, just remember, we'll always be watching after you, no matter where you are." She nodded and held back a yawn as slumber began to take over. "Riku's right, Kai," began Sora. "We're always here for you. No matter what. Remember that forever, okay?"

She nodded drowsily and smiled to herself.

"I wouldn't trade our friendship for anything else in this world. Nothing…"

And it was true what she said. Because her friendship with them was simply… priceless…

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**T**he morning sun rays tried to make its way pass the canopy of leaves that was blocking it. A glimpse of light shone on her face as she fluttered her eyelids open and caught sight of the woods forming around her. She sat up and bristled her hair free of the tangles it made. She heaved a sigh and felt her eye bags grow bigger because she barely slept a wink. Thinking about them made it even worse for her.

She got up and stretched her limbs, feeling the morning breeze sweep past her as it surrounded the girl at first and then left; making her feel hollow once more. She wiped her face with her hand and walked over to the spot. She began packing the stuff once more as her duty was fulfilled. She had carried on the summer tradition alone and she will keep doing it until her last breath. For she had promised them and had promised herself that as long as she was alive, she would keep the memory of their summer vacation still living and she wouldn't stop no matter how _hurtful_ it was.

After a quick bath in the river and a quick snack, she hauled her luggage over her shoulder and began making her way out of the woods, feeling the wind and the sunlight once more. She faced in front and her heart almost stopped as three teenagers with bags over their backs and smiles on their faces passed her side, as though she weren't there. "That was fun! As usual. Lets do it again next year!" said Sora, grinning to his friends.

Riku nodded and the auburn haired girl who was supposedly her, held out her hands into theirs; never wanting to let go. "We'll do it whenever we want guys… but we have to do it together."

"Deal!" they said and broke into laughter suit.

Tears welled up in her eyes, seeing that memory. It wasn't fair. Life wasn't fair. Destiny was cruel to her when they took the most precious thing in her life. They took her life support. They took her boys. They took her best friends. And she couldn't live without them. If it wasn't for that stupid_ fire_ that happened in her house five years ago. If she hadn't been in that house when the fire erupted. If they hadn't saved her and got stuck in the house themselves, burning along with the house, none of this would have happened.

They'd be standing beside her now, laughing and giggling along with her. They'd be holding her hand and they'd be talking to her. They'd still be alive and they'd be adults along with her. She couldn't take it. She allowed every single tear she had been holding back to fall and cascade across her cheek. She fell to the ground and sobbed out loud because she had every reason to cry.

She just didn't have a reason to smile anymore.

With every sob, with every tear, with every choke, she remembered what they said to her five years ago, when they were fifteen (while Riku was sixteen) and still so young and carefree. That they'd always be here for her. But where were they now? Where were they when she was in need of them most? Where were they when she was now currently in the middle of the woods and crying her heart out? Where were they?

She stopped her sobbing for awhile and got up, feeling an aura of presence behind her. Turning around solemnly, she could've sworn she saw two figures, barely visible, looking at her with a smile and giving her a wave. She caught her breath and smiled weakly to them, waving back and whispering 'I love you guys' to their direction. One of them then softly said _"We're always here for you. No matter what. Remember that forever, okay?"_

She was transfixed to his words but nodded and watched as they slowly disappeared from her sight, with a smile on their lips. Clutching her chest that was burning with agony, she picked up her luggage and walked away, leaving the memory of her smile and laughter back until the next summer. She was leaving with tear stained cheeks and broken eyes. She was leaving with a shattered heart. She was just leaving...

Because her summer was over...

_fin._

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For **warm.summer.nights** friendship contest.

I don't own anything. Not even the Campfire Pokey song.

Got the word '**camping**'. Hope you guys aren't confused with the changes of the scenes. I tried to make it look like Kairi remembering her friends and how she missed them and such. Hope it wasn't that confusing! Gomen!

Reviews are appreicated. Please send me one.

_- hinoiri -_


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